On signing with the Rays: He is still “very committed” to the University of South Carolina (of course he is, that is his only leverage in contract negotiations)

On his past: there was “an incident” that led him to transfer high schools and that he has “moved on” from (well, as suspected, he did not transfer to be closer to his college teammates and while he may have moved on, nobody else will until he comes clean)

On his silence since being drafted: he was “at the beach” with family and friends (must have been a beach without cell phone coverage. it’s a bitch)

But wait. Something is wrong here. He couldn’t return phone calls from the Rays or speak with the media because he was at the beach. Hmmmm.

And would a local newspaper call a high school athlete on his cell phone? Or was he reached at home, two hours from the closest beach?

Legacy Sports is one of the biggest agencies in baseball. But right now, their crisis management could use a little work. In the meantime, we are starting to wonder if maybe this kid should just go be USC’s problem.

So is Elijah Dukes now the new standard? Anyone less morally comprised than Elijah is fine?

I still say he's making it worse by not just 'fessing up. If he tells us his version of this "incident" it's forgotten in two days. If he doesn't it will still come out eventually (if it's something that forced him to switch schools obviously someone knows), and he loses control of the message.

At the end of the day, the Rays weren't too bothered by whatever it was. He has no obligation to tell anyone else what he did. Not his paper, not our paper, nobody. The Rays know, the Rays need to know, we do not. The media can do whatever they want with this story. Write an article about how he whipped out his junk during class one day. It wont change how anybody inside the Rays view him, so why would Legacy care at all?

Derek, if his goal is to be the world's best mathematician than no doubt his youthful indiscretions are his own business.

But he's hoping for a multi-million dollar payday in a profession that sells an entertainment product. That shifts the privacy boundaries. Of course he is under no legal obligation to discuss his private life, but the role he's chosen in life subjects him to greater public scrutiny. If he has no interest to be part of that, he should seek another way to make a living.

His youthful indiscretions are his own business, still. His employer has a right to know, and in Topkin's piece, he says, The Rays and him talked about it. My point is, you, I, or anybody else is not entitled to the details of his personal life. We shouldn't fault him for wanting to keep his private life private.

I'm sure they Rays were glad when Longoria didn't comment too much on his gun, and I'm also sure they are fine with this kid keeping a mistake he made, as a child, private.

He is clearly setting up for a negotiation and his advisers/agents seem to think that playing coy and using USC as leverage will get him the best possible deal. My guess is that they're completely pissed that he got drafted by the Rays - a team they know they won't get any extra money out of.

The crisis they're managing is the one where they have to negotiate with Andrew Friedman and not the idiot Steinbrenner brothers.

And whatever that incident is, I'm going to assume it's a pretty big deal until I hear otherwise. As Beth said: If it's "minor" then he ought to clear the air.

The piece with all the quotes shows how much spin the media has placed on this story.

He didn't return the calls because he was spending time with his family. I didn't read anything about cell service.

He actually seems really excited about the Rays being the team that drafted him. He praised the farm system, and said that even though he fell, he is in a good position.

Really doesn't come off as an asshole anymore.

It seems like he met with Legacy before he went to the beach, and they told him not to talk to anybody until he returned and they could have a post draft meeting. Clearly this is speculation on my part, but at least it's sane speculation. At least I'm not doing everything I can to discredit a child for doing what the Rays believe is a minor thing.

I can understand wanting to give the kid and the Rays some "benefit of the doubt" lip service, but you seem to be the only one that thinks this kid does not appear to be a total jerk. A bunch of MLB teams, media, and scouts all have serious doubts about this kid. His approach at handling the media and his draft situation sounds obnoxious. Since you are so open to alternative mindsets, who's to say that this is not another Levon Washington draft pick? Rays grab someone who is impossible to sign and they just get next year's compensation pick. If that does end up being the case, then this draft is pretty crappy considering all the talk and numerous picks.

He may be a total jerk. You would be too, if you had that much talent at that age. Hell, I knew kids who were jerks, and they couldn't do a damn thing on any playing surface. Cockyness comes with that age.

They need him to sign to make their draft look complete. He is by far the best player, and it looks rather weak without him. I also don't think a kid of his talent will be on the board that late next year. I mean, one scout said he is the best prep arm he had ever seen.

C'mon Derek. It was draft day. One of the most important days of his life. Every other draft pick made the media rounds. And yet, you think his advisors told him to ignore the media for a few days because he was going to the beach? You've been eating naive sandwiches. And he is 18. If he is still a "child" the Rays have even bigger problems.

How many of those picks were rumored to have changed schools because of an undisclosed incident? None. It has nothing to do with where he was, per say, but I'm sure his team wanted to have him sit down and talk about all the questions that had be raised over the last few days before he slipped and said something stupid.

It's business, call it "native sandwiches," but it's business.

I'm 23, and I did a lot of things at 17/18 that I wouldn't think of doing today. Maybe I matured slower than everyone else?